Disc 1 Set 1: 1. ...Truckin 2. ...Sugaree 3. Mr. Charlie 4. Beat it On Down The Line 5. Loser 6. Jack Straw 7. Next Time You See Me 8. Tennessee Jed 9. El Paso 10. Big Railroad Blues 11. Me & My Uncle 12. Run, Rudolph, Run
Total time: 64:01
Disc 2 1. Black Peter 2. Playing in the Band 3. Casey Jones Set 2: 4. ...Ramble On Rose 5. Mexicali Blues 6. Big Boss Man
Total time: 38:52
Disc 3 1. Cryptical Envelopment > 2. Drums > 3. The Other One > 4. Wharf Rat 5. Sugar Magnolia 6. You Win Again 7. Not Fade Away > 8. Going Down the Road > 9. Not Fade Away
Notes
The SHN files were sent to me (SHN files generated on a Power Mac 7100 from WAV files
extracted from a Plextor 4/12 PXR-412C using Toast Audio Extractor), but I was unhappy
with a bit of tape hiss that was apparent throughout the show. I was able to combine
all tracks and apply a noise reduction filter using the Sonic Foundry Noise Reduction
Plugin for Sound Forge 4.5. This got rid of the annoying tape his that was prevalent
throughout the show. I then normalize and retracked the show using CDWav to assure that
all track splits were done on correct sector boundries. There were also a few other
blemishes that I corrected using Sound Forge, but those were minimal.
Pigpen's organ playing starts off nicely 'in the mix' during truckin' but after that he is less audible/inaudible. audible but low in Beat it on down. Basically
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inaudible during Mr Charlie, not even those little fills he did that are heard all thru Europe 5/6 months later. He becomes audible but still low(to my preference) during the Other One. Low but audible in NFA.The continuing question is why? Some of his low levels are Pigpens 'dialing down' but most of it I believe is by the person at the board, Mathews I believe or possibly Betty Cantor(the mix to tape) or both all three.Ive compared 71 audience tapes to the sbd tapes(mix to tape) and the organ mix is usually similar.. If you listen to the multi-track from 4/29/71 He plays and is audible in almost every tune. The same holds true for ALL of the multi-tracks and most of the 2 tracks from Europe 72. One exception being 'the hundred year Hall' where Pigpen's organ track was either missing or unuseable, I forget which. That's why he is inaudible except for a little leakage on the 16 track official release
I'll start by saying that the two reviews below suggesting that something may have gone wrong during the remixing/mastering of this version need to have
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their head's checked. Of the 3 versions on archive, this is by far the superior. Among several aspects that make this a special show being on the super rare list as a Pig & Keith show. Not just that but they seem especially complimentary on the night and along with Billy help produce a show that seriously swings front to end. 1st Set: Every song played is at least above average stuff. Excellent version of Mr. Charlie. Smoking and funky Tenn Jed, As mentioned, a Big Railroad that is probably about as serious a fire breathing Jerry treatment as that song ever got. Black Peter is particularly transcendent and poetic. It is also one of the final times they'd play it in the first set. If memory serves there many be one or two first set versions from 72, and 1 a piece in 73-74 before finding its natural place near the conclusion of 2nd sets when they brought it back in 77. There is a nice hiccup at the end of Casey Jones which makes it a bit extra fun and wild. 2nd Set: The beginning of Ramble on is cut but the remained is in tack. Mexicali rocks hard for Mexicali and if you listen through the dead air following it before they kick off Big Boss man you'll hear, I think Bobby, play a quick Satisfaction lick. This is the last BB Man from BB Man's biggest year. It swings, it is dirty, and we get an early taste of that Pig tone that is usually associated with E'72. They could have played out another string of shorter rockers and closed things out maybe a ballad, then NFA> GDTRFB> NFA, and that would have been enough to make this a wonderfully fun 71 show. Instead, next up is Cryptical and while there would be one more on 9/23/72 I've always considered this to be the final true Cryptical. There are just 9/23/72 and the 5 versions from 85 after this. For other reasons as well, but simply put, Crypitcal belongs to Pigpen's era. Solid drums from Billy. Always remember that when you see, "Drums", during a 71 show, that its peak Billy and almost always a mistake to skip over. Drums is followed by a postcard perfect Phil TOO bomb intro complete with the ripping heavy dissonant chord from Jerry dominating the last notes. Something common to all TOOs, but worth mentioning because it generally follows that when you hear Jerry aggressively tear into that, the TOO that follows will match that mood. The first 2 minutes is balls to the wall rock but they immediately transition into a nice melodic trippin’ on stars segment. This lasts for almost 2 minutes before Phil steps in and begins to redirect the focus. By the 5 minute mark the rest of the band has joined in. They briefly form up and hit the main theme for a moment before a wonderful transition into what can only be called a Me & My Uncle Jam, which lasts about a minute & a half before, almost exactly at 7 minutes end they absolutely rip back into the TOO theme, and then finally reach verse 1. The 6-7 minutes of jamming that follow are an exercise is extemporaneous. Lots of quite interplay and brief touches on various themes. In the 15th minute there are the first signs of forming back up and in the first seconds of minute 16 they drop in together and start pushing towards the main TOO theme, which they reach at minute 17. The maybe 50 seconds they run over this Jerry explodes. First the ominous power intro notes and then a totally unique across all TOOs flurry that caps, not a 10 star Other One, but certainly a 7.5-8. A more in depth listening could even bump it to 8.5/10. Next up a very sweet, and nearly fully formed, Wharf Rat. Sounds like just a quick tuning break, as there is no encore this night, before they kick off a rip-roaring Sugar Magnolia. Gotta love these 71 shows where there is at least as much energy, and often even more, at the end of the show as there was early on. This You Win Again is about as oddly placed a song as I can think of 65-95. I think there maybe 1 or 2 other versions that fall late 2nd set like this. Seems so strange to me. Maybe it was intended as a message to the audience, letting them know that the show is not done yet, thus making every there, a winner. A solid NFA with a real nice tail end jam that extends beyond the standard 71 NFA outro jam and melts wonderfully into a sublime GDTRFB... well at least the first 2/3rds is sublime. The solo kicks off early in minute 6 and for almost a minute counts as strong but standard, then, led by Jerry of course, the whole band kicks into overdrive and just unloads a monstrous 40 seconds. You'll know it’s coming when you hear Jerry ending the 2nd run through with 2, very unique to GDTRFB, chop chord riffs. It really makes this a must hear version. A quick conclusion to NFA and, "Thank you folks, goodnight." Sound: 9.5/10 Playing: 9/10 Overall: 9/10
When noise reduction is applied too heavily it introduces artifacts and digi-noise into the sound. The between-song portions and tunings on here feature
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such artifacts. I'm not posting this to be critical, just pointing out that sometimes "cleaning" these old tapes up presents new problems. The show itself is fantastic. As there are other copies that haven't had noise reduction applied, I highly recommend streaming it. A 5-star performance, reduced to 3 for the unnecessary sound artifacts.
Reviewer:
thebone
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favoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
April 30, 2009 Subject:
Top of the Hill
This was a nice show, with excellent sound quality. Not quite a 5, but clearly a good strong 4. Favorite tune: GDTRFB baby!!!
Reviewer:
oh_uh_um_ah
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favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
April 29, 2009 (edited)
Subject:
The GRATEFUL DEAD "Live On Stage" December 14, 1971 at the Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan, ... U.S.A.
` ~^|\_@|@_/|^~ ~<->/<->\<->~
~~~~~~~~! PIGPEN & KEITH !~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ very rare show ~~~~~~~~~ Super
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71' Soundboard! ~Hi-Fi Stereo-Phonic Sound~
I "Highly Recommend" adding this show to your 1971 GRATEFUL DEAD collection. Remember to get the next night too, December 15th: http://www.archive.org/details/gd1971-12-15.sbd.miller.97718.sbeok.flac16 There aren't enough shows with Pigpen and Keith. These two incredible performers add so much fun, syncopation and rhythmical dimension to the GRATEFUL DEAD you have to get up and dance. Pigpen and Keith made a special "Magic" only seen on earth for a brief moment in time, but it was captured on tape and is now available on the Internet Archive for all of us to hear, hopefully forever. It's too good to be true, but it is. Billy's layin' down a solid in the pocket groove that makes you get up and dance. Jerry, Bobby, and Phil are of course amazingly incredible and the vocals are strong, confident, smooth and melodic. This show is a "National Treasure". This show is as close to perfection as you can get without dematerializing. A "MUST HAVE" show from 1971. "Classic 1971 Sound" This show is fresh, exciting, interesting, fascinating, wonderful, and professional. 5 big fat Stars for the mix, recording, performance and transfer. Thanks Jeff, we owe you one. The IA recommends users of Windows XP view this web-page with RealPlayer. RealPlayer is a free media player you can download at www.realplayer.com. For easy streaming or downloading use RealPlayer. Click the VBR M3U link to open the songs in the Playlist. If your Playlist is not open, open it by clicking the Playlist icon at the lower right hand corner of RealPlayer. Once the songs are in the Playlist, double click the song to play it, then click the record button at the lower left hand corner of Realplayer to record it. When the red line reaches the other end click the stop button to download the song. Your song is in the RealPlayer Downloads folder. Repeat these steps for each song. Eat, Drink, Be Merry and Listen to the GRATEFUL DEAD. Thanks for the LOVE from 1971. PS: Get em' while you can, get em' while they're free, get em' now or you'll be sorry...the Man giveth and the Man taketh away...WTTW Remember to click on the DeadLists Project link and get the poster and ticket stub for this show. PSS: It's a shame these "new" fans of the GRATEFUL DEAD just don't appreciate Pigpen and his contributions he made to the band.
Definitely an upgrade to the previous sources found here. I'm glad to see someone finally clean this one up a little. This has always been one of my favorite
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'71's, but now I'm able to appreciate it's greatness even more. None of the hiss that was especially distracting during the quieter songs. Thanks Jeff! Time to go listen to it, now. I'll probably have more, later. edit:Wow, I forgot that these early Jack Straws had Bob singing lead the whole song, instead of switching back and forth between he and Jerry. Still, it's excellent! Also, one of the best Other One suites of the year, without question!
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